Hello TV Addicts! This is Mike V. of the Lost Addicts Blog among others. This blog covers any TV past, present and future! Look for my recaps/commentary on the latest episodes of Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, archived recaps on Fringe and several others, and weekly open forums on the current episodes of several other favorite shows. Please continue to chime in with your thoughts too!

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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Hello fellow TV aficionados and welcome to the Revolution! Okay, so my last recap may have come off very sarcastic and given off the impression that I wasn't enjoying the show. This is far from the truth! There were definitely cheesy moments last week, and there really aren't many discussion points yet, so when this happens I normally result to humorous (well, humorous in my mind) recapping! We're going to try and go much shorter this week, so maybe we won't run into any confusion. I thought episode 3 was a decent outing as well. We are sort of starting to see what this show wants to be. A weekly adventure with a little bit of an advancement with the whole "power" thing. And of course, some short flashback segments to fill in some blanks about the post-blackout and our characters' pasts. It's a tried and true method. We'll see if they can keep upping the ante and getting more interesting along the way! Let's dive into the recap.

Brief Recap

Okay, here were the storylines last night.

Charlie/Miles/NoraNora needed to bring her gun to the rebel alliance (aka USA Patriots). But the rebels found themselves in the middle of a battle with the militia. An interrogation of one of the captured rebels by Lucifer/Jacob himself (Mark Pellegrino) led the militia right to the hidden rebel base. Sidenote: Mark Pellegrino was not only Jacob on LOST, but a recurring cast member on Supernatural (Showrunner Eric Kripke's other show). A sign of the talent they can bring to this show.

Long story short, a big battle was fought. Miles and Jacob (UPDATE: His name apparently is Jeremy on the show) reveal some shared history. Miles turns himself and the gun in to let the rebels and Charlie go free. But Charlie and Nora come up with an explosive plan to get Miles back, and blow stuff up in the process. Another win for the rebels! (Don't think they got the gun back though)

Danny and the Militia
Danny and some random militia guy that I'm sure will end up being his best friend 5 episodes down the road, got into some heated conflicts. Militia Dude lost a friend in the attempted capture of Danny's father Ben. Danny argued that they killed his dad. Danny ratted him out to Captain Tom and got his drink of water. But later when the Captain wasn't around, Danny got a sack of rocks whacked in his face a few dozen times. Ouch! No fear, Danny faked an asthma attack later to draw some sympathy of militia dude then choked him out for a few seconds. And he threatened to kill him if he ever touched him again. Captain Tom watched on with great interest in the boy. He may have found a dark side that he can corrupt over time. Maybe together they can even find a way to save Padme. (whoops!)

In all seriousness, did anyone get the vibe that maybe the long-term game here is that Danny will become one of the militia. And by the time Charlie/Miles get there he won't want to be freed? Just a hunch I'm playing. Miles/Monroe Flashback
We see Miles and Monroe on the army base 8 weeks after the blackout. Miles is tired of sitting around. He wants to go to Chicago and find his brother. Monroe won't let him go alone. They realize this is a long trek but they head out anyway! We follow them along the way stumbling upon murdered people in tents. Miles is shocked at how quickly things are unraveling. Monroe brings up that there's a struggle for food and people will do anything.

6 months after the blackout, they're still trekking to Chicago. And they stumble upon a large man beating down another guy. Miles takes matters into his own hands and pulls a gun on him and his friend. The man apologizes saying he just wants food. Miles shoots the 2 guys anyway and saves this guy. And who is this guy? None other than "JACOB" from the present day! Thus, the militia is born.

Aaron/Maggie
Aaron and Maggie head to Grace's farm to search for answers on the power. They find that she is gone (kidnapped by Randall last week, we assume) but they search the house. Aaron finds that Grace had built a computer and is very excited by that prospect. Why build a computer if it's not going to work? They also saw a Discman sitting out in the living room.

Aaron gets frustrated though not being able to crack the code. He tells a story of his past about how he was bullied in school for being a "nerd" but then got the last laugh when he got a job with Google, owned 4 houses and had an awesome wife. But the punchline is, after the blackout, it's the bullies who are in charge again. Maybe not for long. The magic necklace started powering up and the CD player started playing "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye. Maggie got excited and powered on her phone. (This show without power is brought to you by Apple by the way) She got to see her kids for a brief second but then the magic lost its power. Maggie just asks HOW? And Aaron has no clue.

And that's where we leave things. What inspires these magic necklaces to power up? Solar power? Key words? Only hold so much charge? Guess, we'll find out!

Interesting Tidbits

Charlie was a little more tolerable this week. Just thought I'd say that! Maybe because there were no awkward scenes with "my name is not Nate"!

Miles is a co-founding father of the Monroe Militia. He has killed people to restore order to the land (at least the Chicago area). And, of course, it seems to have worked to some extent. We find out that all of the militia have been trained by him so he suggests to run whenever they come across them. (Of course, Charlie will never listen to that advice) But, at some point he must have had a change of heart or a falling out with the militia. Because he says it's been years since he's been an active part of it.

Nora claims that she's part of the rebel alliance for a guy, which is Miles' assumption. But she tells Charlie it's more complicated than that. We confirm that she and Miles used to be together. But then she was with Frank. She and Frank ran into militia one night and had an altercation. She took a few shots and gave some back herself. Frank dumped her afterwards. But the big reveal is that she was 5 months pregnant during this altercation and lost the baby. I'm not sure how she would've known it was a boy without power unless someone magic necklaced an ultrasound!

Read what you will into this, but Captain Tom is reading Lee Iacocca's autobiography. I guess reading about the automobile industry is a bit of history these days!

Anyone notice that right by the rebel base was a blue sign for the "Lone Pine Mall"? That just happens to be the renamed mall in Hill Valley after Marty McFly knocks down one of the "Twin Pines" in 1955. So, nice random Back to the Future reference!

Jacob had some crazy methods of interrogation with his pseudo version of Russian Roulette. Of course, then he ended up killing the guy when he got the information anyway. I wonder if this was a Miles tactic? Based on his flashback, it wouldn't surprise me.

I grow tired of asking. Where is the rebel base?

Charlie is convinced there's still good in Miles (wait, so he's Darth Vader too now?) and that he still cares. Miles argues that he doesn't. But, obviously he does if he's trying to help her get Danny back. He's just a tortured and flawed hero.

I think that's all I have for this week. Still longer than I intended, but definitely shorter! Walking Dead starts October 14th, and Fringe has begun! Check in for my recaps on those as well! Look forward to our weekly discussions, hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll see you next week!

23 comments:

MJ
said...

They did give us Jacob's name - just don't remember. His whole attitude with 'keep sending 1 guy in' to use up the bullets is very Kripke/Pelligrino type humor. Kripke has that sense of humor and Pelligrino delivers it so well.

I did't get the vibe that Danny will join the militia - I just got that Gus felt some respect for Danny now. I'm feeling that most of these militia peeps were once loyal soldiers and citizens. And the militia started up over a need for peace keeping - as shown in tonights ep - people killing over food and such. It was to keep people safe. So it all started out with good intentions but then absolute power corrupted. So I'm thinking that not all of these militia people are happy about who they have become - but now are stuck in it.

I'm just saying - have to just roll with it - but that phone would not have had any charge in it's battery left by now.

Good ep though, or so I thought.

Well - Caught up on Revenge and Dexter - will go to Fringe for them

HYMYM - They weren't kidding around that this would be the fall of breakups - and they didn't make us wait long

Loved the pre-nups though. And Pre-slup too. But taking in Victoria's ex? Ferrets cracked me up - used to have 2 so it struck me as particularly funny.

REVOLUTION: Well, I like calling him Jacob until they make it clearer! lol (I didn't hear it, but I'm sure they gave the name) If I was writing a longer recap I definitely would have remembered to comment on the "keep sending the guy in" part. That was pretty crazy. lol

Yeah, I may be reaching with Danny joining the militia, but thought I'd throw it out there! They definitely have been hinting (or blatantly clear) on why the militia was created. Even Gus/Tom was talking about it last week. He said how it might not be the best thing in the world, but it helps them hold onto some kind of structure/order. But, I see what you're saying. Started out with good intentions but eventually got out of control...maybe Monroe and some others went on a power trip. Definitely feels like the Militia are just a "1st villain" of sorts. Like, they may have to team up with the militia to take on the BIG BAD eventually. Or like you said, maybe some of the militia will defect.

lol on the phone. So true...unless that magical necklace was able to give it a charge. I didn't even look to see how full the battery was on it. Picture shows it at 11%. Well, maybe whatever thing turned off even battery powered devices also turned off the ability for a battery to get drained too? LOL

I thought the ep was a good time too!

HIMYM - Not just the FALL of breakups...OCTOBER is the MONTH of breakups. lol Prenup stuff was hysterical. Lily's interpretation of Mashall throwing the baby in the air was hysterical too. But yeah, I was a big fan of THE STATE (MTV) back in the day, so I always love when alum show up on stuff. So, the more Thomas Lennon (Klaus) we get, the better off we are! The ferrets stuff was a good time.

I almost didn't watch Dexter last night due to Parenting overtime. lol But, I just couldn't wait to watch it. I'll comment in the Fringe recap as well! (we'll see how long this back and forth lasts lol)

Dare I say it, NBC may have a hit on their hands with Revolution. It was down only 2 tenths in the key demo from last week. Don't know what that translates into with total viewers. But, this is the first high concept show in awhile not suffering from a huge drop-off every week. (Of course, not counting Cable dramas or Once Upon a Time lol)

I'll pay more attention - Monday shows on Monday recap. I saw you commented on the Fringe post, but figured I'd copy and paste like you said. :)

Revolution – I think they said Jeremy was his name, but it was a while into the episode. There was a good line from Miles when he said “we’re gonna Shawshank our asses outta here.” I kinda felt bad for Aaron when he told the story about how the world has turned back into one big school yard. I’m still waiting to be grabbed by this show. I want more balance with the fighting and the character development. I realize they are in survival mode, but still.

HIMYM – Loved the whole pre-nup stuff! And, Robin being turned on by watching herself! The baby tossing was hysterical!

Yeah, I don't know how long we'll be able to keep that up but we'll see if we can be organized for once! lol I'll copy/paste my responses too! lol

"REVOLUTION - It is Jeremy you're right. I updated it in the recap too. :) lol I tried to fit Miles' Shawshank line into the recap, but it wasn't fitting well in my abbreviated recap. So thanks for pointing it out! lol Agreed, it was funny. I hear you on balance with fighting/character development. Maybe it will happen over time. We'll see! They definitely seem more focused on the action...which is cool if that's the show it wants to be.

Fine job as always, pal. My guess is that something is preventing electricity. Kinda like a "pinch" a la Oceans Eleven. The necklace could block that within a small range. But we probably won't know that for quite some time.

Awesome pick up on the Back to the Future reference! I knew that mall sounded familiar.

ugh. I wrote a whole nice comment and then I didn't copy the text like I normally do- did something wrong and I lost the whole thing! D'oh! ok, so quickly then- Curt, nice point about the pinch! I hadn't thought of that.. the Shawshank comment was funny, but the idea of tunneling out was dumb. How much time did they think they had? It took Andy YEARS to dig the Shawshank tunnel! LOL! Mike, I actually agree with you on Danny being recruited into the militia. He could get brainwashed or something, and by the time Charlie finds him it'll be good old fashioned drama- like the Civil War, brother-against-brother (sister?). From the previews it seems that they're going to kill someone off next week? Personally I don't care enough about any character for their death to really affect me.. but who knows, we'll see when it happens! I was surprised to hear people being called "dicks" twice in this episode. Seems a bit risque for network TV, but I guess the 10pm airtime makes it better? Not that I'm offended, lol. Anyway, I like the show and will continue to watch. I am looking forward to more backstory.. SOA- glad that this episode was a bit more calm than last week. We needed a breather after my precious Opie was so brutally killed. RIP my love, haha! I fell asleep for a little bit so I missed a couple things, but I woke up to Tara beating the snot out of Nero's second banana. YAY! Go Tara!So I got my bf into FlashForward, lol. Watched the whole thing on Netflix last week. He loved it! I have to say, watching it rapid fire like that was much more enjoyable than having an episode a week and going through that long hiatus. You didn't really get a chance to go through the show's weaknesses or anything- you didn't like that episode? Ok, let's watch the next one! haha.. made me miss the show and wish it was able to come to more of a resolution, but oh well haha..I know you've talked about Revenge and Once in a different post, just wanted to say YAY they're back! I was a little tipsy (Sunday afternoon wedding) so I didn't pay total attention to either, but I'm glad I have Sunday nights filled with ABC goodness :)

@Curt - Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the props! Nice idea with the Ocean's 11-like pinch. I like it!

@Kelly - Sorry you lost your post! But looks like you did okay recollecting your thoughts! lol

Revolution - Glad I'm not the only crazy person out there with the Danny/Militia thought! lol I thought the same as you with the Shawshank idea, but I think the plan was to dig a big enough hole that Nora could do her explosives thing and blow a bigger hole. But then it caved in. Could be totalyl wrong with this! Yeah, sounds like someone will be dying next week. My guess is already on Maggie, but we'll see! Not so sure that the "d-word" is forbidden on network TV. But, if it is you're probably right that they have more flexibility at 10.

SOA - Agree on the slowdown. It was a nice tribute to Opie at the end. And what was up with Gemma getting Tara to do her dirty work? She is a nasty woman! lol I wonder who called in that raid though. Maybe it was Clay...but I definitely believe that Ashley Tisdale had nothing to do with it. (My wife pointed out to me that when they got to her motel room, her "Hellcats" cheerleading outfit was on the bed. I guess she was doing some role-playing LOL) And very interesting move on JAX's part of forcing Nero/Gemma apart. Probably makes sense, but there's bound to be fireworks because of it!

FF - Yeah, the show definitely had growing pains, but it really wasn't that bad in the scheme of things. I was looking forward to a 2nd season by the end even though we knew it wouldn't come. Well, that's cool that at least 2 people are still enjoying it today! lol

And I guess you have an excuse for not paying attention to the Sunday shows. :) lol

Had this link for awhile and just kept not getting around to looking - but figured i'd share in case some missed it. Evangeline Lily from the Hobbithttp://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=95180

Supernatural - good luck with that - it can become an obsessive watch but they are going into the 8th season i think. makes it hard to catch up LOL

Yeah, that's the link that Bill shared last week or the week before, right? Looking forward to The Hobbit. Just hope 3 movies isn't too much. I'm sure Peter Jackson will do right by it. Of course, I never finished reading the books so if it's an entertaining movie, I'm good! lol

Hobbit got stretched to 3 ? Ugh - must have either forgotten that or not heard.

SOA - another fabulous and powerful ep. Gemma is SO out of control, and Jax called her on it a little bit. But getting Tara to fight that chick?! LOL I knew that call girl did not call the cops ! That wake really choked me up, and Jax back on the roof as well.

Ratings are fab for SOA this yearhttp://insidetv.ew.com/2012/10/03/sons-of-anarchy-beats-broadcast-shows-in-ratings/

BE - watched some of it but not all. Once I finish it I'll post over on the sunday recap.

Hobbit - Yep, Jackson realized he had enough footage to make 3 movies. But a lot of it is the appendices (sp) of The Hobbit. I'm sure it's going to work more towards tying the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings together into one work. I just hope they're 2 hour movies instead of 3.5 hour movies. lol

SOA - I got choked up too at the wake. And I saw about the ratings, pretty crazy!!

My bus was taking a while to pick me up from work, so I jumped on DISHonline.com so that I could check out this week’s episode of Revolution. I’m guessing that Miles cofounded the Militia to help people out too, but when did his idea of taking the law into his own hands go awry? I was talking to one of the guys I work with at DISH, and he said that the moment he thought he could take the law into his own hands is when everything went wrong. I guess I can’t argue that point. He is the reason their world is how it is now.